lookingglass

A woah red musk, I used to think it was too dry but now I really appreciate animalitic scents. If you like Scherezade or Smut, step right up. Strong sillage, sweet musk, insence notes, and earthy drydown.

Revisting Aeval here over 3 years later and she will be my new Spring scent. I can appreciate the green sage beginning drying down to a less sweet interpretation of Mouse's Long Sad Tale with more musk (must be the sweet pea/tonka that reads a bit like amber to my nose). It is almost fruity and is a big sister to Fae, I think. DH says it smells like a clean, nice, hotel. I think I'll just smack him!

A bright yellow scent~a definitely get a grapefruit impression, but it is more exotic. I have smelled yuzu before, and this is more complex. I am not usually a citrus person, (I got this one for my mom), but I really like this already. On the drydown, there is a bitterness from the tea, and I am not usually into the tea scents, either, but again, I really like it! It must be the combination with the citrus, and that it is playing 2nd fiddle. It fades fairly quickly, as top notes do, but there is a creamy, sweet scent lingering...is that vanilla or the cherry blossom again? I love it, and I'm sure that Mom, the citrus lover will, too. I will be getting more in the summer for myself!

'O', thank you all so much...

Cinnimon and resin...maybe dragon's blood...but something else. It is really dry and burns my nose and skin. Dosn't morph at all on me...it just sort of fades away.

Fresh citrus...lemon...grapefruit...yuzu? On the drydown it is needley:pine or fir balsam? It is gone in an instant...no base to speak of.

Wet this is heavy, sweet, BRIGHT cherry...like a lollipop... partnering with the dragon's blood. As soon as I put it on, though, the cherry dries down to a deep red, and the clove and myrrh move to the front. It is really a very warm and fresh spice, like HOT, pulsing blood. The cherry, once dry, is only making the blend sweet...not overly fruity. I am so glad this is here for fall! Blood Kiss is for DH, but THIS one is MINE!

I keep some in an imp vial...

The vanilla and cherry are rich, ripe, luxurious, and so edible without being overly sweet-like cherry pipe tobacco. The poppy isn't overly floral, but is more like opium incense. The clove, vetiver, and musk heat it all up and it does pulse deeply...like a heart under a vampire's kiss...(swoon!) ETA: It's now 2010 and this is STILL DH's Holy Grail BPAL. I just bought him another bottle for Valentine's Day. It is the scent that just smells like HIM now. On me, once the vetiver stops amping like it does, the drydown is a warm black cherry musk. Mmmm... STILL-now 2013.

Let me say that I was about to give up on florals, and the thought of me wearing a 'green' scent was, like, "eh...no...". I tried this scent for the copal, a young amber that I am quite in love with but have only ever used in ritual work in its solid form. OMG. I am in love. This scent is green and lush, like a rainforest, with sweet orange right up behind it. It is fresh and alive, much like Eden is in the beginning, but citrusy: SO REFRESHING...and I don't DO refreshing scents!(??) Then, there is this very exotic floral, that is like nothing else...light, delicate, soft...it is one with the green. The really great part though, is the copal that holds it all together. It is like the SKIN of the scent...holding all that jungle wildlife and making it a PART of me! I have never had such a clean scent MELT like this...The smoke lingers in the background, keeping it mysterious, a little dark...something is looming... It is on my big bottle list, for sure.

I am a newly converted musk lover and I love the moonflowers in my front garden...but I guess that is the only place I will smell them. My skin just amps up florals...they don't meld well with my skin and just smell flowery...I really wanted to love this one.

(2004) I got this baby free in a swap! Thank you! Wet, this is a heady green floral and buttery sweetness. As it dries, it throws a clean white floral and chocolate, a little smokey. So evocative of a Catholic alter...It becomes a little fruity for a moment (is that raspberry?mmmm). Dry I notice the tobacco, a bit of the cocoa, and some booze (like in Hellcat), but it is still WAY floral. The flowers are redder now. Wow...this is a very complex and narrative scent. I can't wait to see how it compares to 2005! (2005) Yeah, she is still definitely a floral...close your eyes and there is sweet sugar, a bit of cocoa, a red fruit, and a little smoke underneath. I don't know if it is that this blend is fresh or if it is a difference in the blend itself but this smells brighter. This is one of the more "commercial" smelling BPALS IMO...I think it is the complexity of the floral that is so evocative. This would be a great "breaking into BPAL" blend, for sure.

This, on me is super floral and earthy at the same time (a floral chypre), a bit in the way that Zombi is. I bet the Caterpillar would really smell like this: like he has been lurking in the garden, but is now perched on a mushroom in a cloud of incensy smoke. Ugh, I'm sneezey and disoriented. Who ARE you?.....

In the vial, and wet, I am instantly in love, but at the same time, worried...This is delicious: sticky vanilla, slightly green, with a resinous tang...it's like a "clean" Snake Oil (without the patchouli and spice). Dry this is sweet, warm, delicate, deep, and soft....ummmph... I may have another lover tomorrow , but O has my heart today. It is skin, but amplified in the sweetest, sexiest way. I feel like I could wear this anywhere: to work, out, to bed...it's like having on sexy underwear. A single drop, and you have something that is just for you...but slather and it has quite a bit of throw and staying power. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I found this one on my hunt for the sexy skin scent. It reminds me of Alice and Hecate together, both of which I like. Resiney goodness wet (Hecate) and deliciously creamy dry (Alice~but sexed up). DH said I smelled like "p@#$y and flowers"!

Wet she's a blast of almondy sweetness...drying down though, Bastet really wins my heart. It's indescribable really. I used to wear Egyptian musk as a single note, and while I can recognize it here it is SO much more sophisticated: Clean, yet sweet, soft, slightly powdery. The lotus is sweet but not bublegummy like it can be (thank the gods). The saffron...spicy amber with the sweet...a magical, soft yet powerful skin scent. The scent just radiates golden light. ETA: This blend has become very special to me. My cats obviously love it-they come over and get some lovin' consistently when I wear it. I have also used it in ritual work and when wee kitties have passed. I'm very thankful for this one.

Wet she is super fresh, cut open green herbs and apple. So clean and alive! Drying down the greeness turns to the red side of the apple, and becomes a bit spicy...like when I am making pie: sliced granny smith apples with cinnnimon, maybe some clove...but before the sugar and crust. Dry it is still a bit spicy, the apple nearly gone, but a rich darkness holds on, like the stem of the apple. The base is what really makes this one a keeper for me. It makes it mysterious, a little dark, and oh, so wearable. I feel like I could wear this anytime in any season.

Hellcat is Grog's drunk twin! Super boozy...it smells on my skin like rum does in the bottle and just keeps on going with lots of throw. Definately not wearing this one to work...I love the nuttiness: it smells raw, freshly hulled, and bitter. MMMM, spicy and naughty. The sweet cream comes out in the drydown. This is a winter party scent for me.

At first I have no idea what I am smelling. Something powerful, potent, commanding. Then it dries down and is almost floral, but very spicy and earthy. Then it is so vertivert, pepper, and baby powder. A very odd combination. This is what I think the Dutchess in Alice in Wonderland might smell like. I am going to have to try this again when I am in a "Big Mamma" mood!

In the bottle, it reminds me a lot of Snake Oil. Spicy, but deep and exotic. Applied it is like smelling fine, fresh insence before burning it. On the drydown, the musk gives this scent a noteble depth. I love it. It will definately be my bellydancing perfume!

A strange, disconcerting embrace… to some, alarming, and to some, intimately familiar: fig, pomegranate and cocoa bean with lemon, bergamot, vanilla, mellow honey musk, calamus and tonka. Oh, how I have waited for you, Freakshow! And I am not disappointed... Very chocolatey and citrusy, sweet, musk on the application. Chocolate fades fast, with the quick squirt of the lemon, and then appears a pinker, sweeter fruitiness-Ms Pomegrannate! I am so glad I found a pomegrannate I can wear. The drydown is delcious! Sweet, but still slightly sour and a bit woody and dark. The tonka is FAB, not too masculine...sweetened with the vanilla, and is super sexy with the musk, which I do not usually adore. Into the top 10...

Soft, light chocolate...my favorite. The cirtus' is right behind for a moment, giving a playful bite, but they are soon gone. The sweet berry and floral combo emerges, like a table set for a romatic afternoon tea. Dry, it is soft and sweet. The perfect chocolate scent for me to wear in the day. Wish I had bought a big bottle

Wet and fresh smelling in the vial...I am very excited. I am wanting this to be like my "daytime" Bordello. I wish that the green stayed longer than 2 seconds on my skin. Now there is blackberries. Yum. Definately see the dewberry connection. It is funny...it must be the combination of herbs and black musk...but this smells on me like I have on Bordello, Yggdrasil, and a trace of Snake Oil. The initial brightness is gone within minutes...I am left alone in the deepest part of the forrest, disoriented, covered in blackberry juice, and while the darkness is sinking in, I can hear chanting...

Candy shop. Really. It is SOOO sweet and edible in the bottle, it seems almost silly to put it on my skin instead of in my mouth. Seriously creamy and nutty in the most delicious way. I want to find a cream cake that tastes like this smells. It has a good amount of throw, but fades pretty quickly. My skin tries to turn the booze into an insense, but instead I get a snuffed candel smell in an hour or so.

Dark, delicious and evil! DH and I both love this on eachother. Really chocolatey in the bottle, but as soon as it hits the skin it is dark red wine, insence and blood-metalic and spicy. On the drydown it is kind of fruity, but it is still dark and warm. Definately a keeper. DH calls it " Aztec Pudding" b/c we can't pronounce it!